Benefits

Integrated Servo and network communication technologies are advancing quickly, primarily for the purpose of reducing the complexity of machinery. Fewer components operating more intelligently, and more automatically, deliver many benefits:

1) Reduced Size

Compressing the controls into the motors themselves reduces or eliminates the control cabinet, making the machine much smaller

Machine repair moves from debugging a cabinet full of wires and controls, to a simple component swap of motors and standard cables.

5) Reduced Down-Time

Keeping component spares on-hand can virtually eliminate down-time. A traditional control can only be debugged in the cabinet while the machine is down and the factory processes stopped. An Integrated Motor or simple “Y” cable can be swapped out immediately. The faulty component can be debugged, or simply sent back to the manufacturer for analysis and repair – while the machine continues to produce.

6) Increased Reliability

The fewer components a machine has, the more reliable it is. Also, an Integrated Servo based machine design has considerably less wiring, and wiring is the chief source of failure in most machines.

Integrated Motors are available from Dozens of manufacturers, ranging from very low-cost open-loop step motors to very fast, high-performance closed-loop servos. Different manufacturers offer different slants on the solutions. The integrated motor market segment is growing faster than the general industry and the technology is transforming how equipment is designed, manufactured and supported in the field. The Combitronic function represents a leap as significant as the Integrated Motors themselves.

Linear Interpolation

Animatics has broken down the barrier between multiple integrated motors and introduced a simple command structure that allows any one SmartMotor™ to command linear Interpolated paths across multiple motors at once.

The Synchronized Motion command set opens the door to direct control without the need for any centralized processor.

Synchronized commands allow up to 3 pairs of motors for X, Y and Z for large parallel axis gantry systems with 2 motors per axis:

PTS(x;a;u,y;b;v,z;c;z)

'set 6-axis including x slave, y slave, z slave

GS

'Go, 3-axis primaries x, y, z, + slaves: u, v, and w

TSWAIT

'Wait until all axis move is complete

Supplemental Axis syntax allows for additional motors above and beyond that will start and stop and the exact same time as the main motors: These motors could be rotary axis, pumps, etc….

PTS(x;a,y;b,z;c)

'set 3-axis X, Y, Z

PTSS(j,q)

'set supplemental axis q to j absolute position

PRTSS(k,r)

'set supplemental axis r, k relative distance

GS

'Go, all 5 motors

TSWAIT

'Wait until all moves are complete

RS232

In the event that a PC or HMI is desired to control a large number of SmartMotor servos, but RS232 is desired to save the cost of direct CANbus interfacing to the newtork, any SmartMotor may be used as master access via RS232 to all Combitronic motors on its network. The following demostrat 12 motors in a network where 4 SmartMotors are in a serial daisy chain over RS232. Each of those 4 may have up to 119 motors on its Combitronic network.

The Controlling PC may freely access and control all motors via a single standard RS232 serial port.

Video Demo

Sinusoidal Oscillation Mode

This is a free running cam mode off of an internal virtual axis control. The motors move sequentially, with the farthest left motor as the master, to create a wave motion.

Application: Pressing out large sheets of metal as you move toward the edge or pressing out bubbles in sheet vacuum forming processes.

Short, quick moves in Sinusoidal Oscillation Mode

Showing that a single SmartMotor can control all other SmartMotors separately, sequentially, or globally at the same time.

Global Addressing with Synch Commands

The master SmartMotor is moving the other five motors together, all starting and stopping at the same time. Synch commands allow for the same start and stop time. The distance they all moved in this example determined ahead of time.

Application: Capping applications or fillings applications

Group Addressing with Synch Commands & Random Number Generator

The SmartMotors have been split of into two groups of three. Each of the two groups has coordinated start and stop times with the Synch commands, but one group moves up while the other group moves down. The distance that the carriage moves along the screw was produced by a random number generator in the SMI program.